The latest figures from the NHS show that at the end of December 2021, there were 30999 people on the waiting list at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. 905 people had been waiting for more than a year for an appointment and 52 people had been waiting more than 2 years.

At the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, following a decade of Tory mismanagement there were 4.4 million people on the NHS waiting list in England, then a record high. Nationally, the standard of 92% of people seen within 18 weeks of a referral has not been met since 2016. Now, 1 in every 9 people in England are on the NHS waiting list.

The NHS went into the latest wave of Covid infections with the longest waiting list ever, understaffed and overstretched.

The Conservative Government published its elective care recovery plan for the NHS this week but failed to set out how it would address the workforce shortages the NHS is facing. The plan set the Government’s ambition as beginning to reduce waiting lists in 2024.

Commenting, Easington MP Grahame Morris said:

“People in East Durham are being forced to wait months and even years for treatment, often in pain and discomfort. Now the Government is telling them that, despite hiking up their national insurance, they will continue waiting longer for years to come.

“It is clear that the longer we give the Tories, the longer patients will wait.

“Our local health care staff worked heroically throughout the pandemic, but they have been stretched like never before.

“The Government must give us the staff and support County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust needs to get patients the quality care they deserve, when they need it.

Wes Streeting MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said:

“Record numbers of people are waiting for care and they are waiting longer than ever before, often in pain and distress.

“After a decade of Tory mismanagement, the NHS went into the pandemic with record waiting lists and staff shortages of 100,000. It’s not just that the Tories didn’t fix the roof when the sun was shining, they dismantled the roof and removed the floorboards.

“The Conservatives are so incompetent they’ve come up with a plan that sees patients paying more in tax but waiting longer for care.

“The longer we give the Conservatives, the longer patients will wait.

“The last Labour government reduced waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks. The next Labour government will secure the future of our NHS, providing the staff it needs to treat patients on time.”

ENDS